MkenyaNathan
New Lister
Here in Kenya, we can make you laugh at a funeral and weep at a wedding.
Today, lets talk about long distance hauling, quarry businness and sand harvesting.
Lets start with long distance. Beginners,
Please please DO NOT start long distance logistics with these 3 trucks.
1. Renault Magnum
2. Iveco
3. Renault Premeum
They are very CHEAP & TEMPTING
(am not implying they are Bad trucks, just that it's best if it's your 2nd truck,not your 1st!)
DEAD on Arrival
Will be your new born in the Labour ward
*In transport
ENTRY LEVEL
Try as much as you can and get an Actros-Axor MP1/2 kr Scania 113,124 series With these, age is just a number. Very durable trucks! UD and DAF are also a good alternative
Sometime back around Kisauni KCB area there were some Renault Magnum units.
The amount of road rescue I did with my team of freelance mechanics only God knows. Assume a garage is a cow and the units are the ticks. Getting them out had to involve a specialist.
Iveco Stralis
Once it starts racking up the miles, cracks start to appear in your pockets. Big rift-valley like cracks!! Have you ever seen a large fleet operator in Kenya operating purely Iveco Stralis? No,not ME!
*Anything Italian is a Guzzler!
Iveco/Ferrari/Peugeot/....Martini Rosso
Renault Premium
Needs spares at hand! Remember Capital Cargo (circa 2002/3) around Migadini junction?
I was there with my team. Advised the owner to cut off Renaults doing Kampala routed from 12 to 6! Sell 6 Premiums, buy 2 Benzes. The owner of the fleet with Marketing degree, didn't listen to an Automotive Engineering Degree holder.
End result?
Renaults were hit by a Plague
[Common failure was compressor, then other opportunistic infections follow]
Blowing pressure pipes, then overheating and warping the head, more & more damages.
Then started the break downs on A109. A unit heads out to rescue switches trailer, after few kms breaks down too. At some point 7 out of 12 Renault's were all broken down spread along Msa-Malaba.
Remaining 4 in the Garage Only 1 left doing Tudor-Docks! Tudor docks is Msa-Nai. It's really Sad!
Cheap is Expensive!
Take my preachings with a grain of rice. Pesa ni yako, msosi kwa mazishi yako ni yetu!
Free-of-charge,tukitoa machozi fake ya kuongezea appetite.
On to the quarry and ballast business.
Pen & Paper
We address the elephant in the room!
1. Axor -3235. 350 horsepower
2. Axor 3240 400 horsepower
These units have the same engine, same gearbox different outputs!
[The 8×4 configuration is my poison of choice, solely because of a sturdy drivetrain meant to handle the most arduous of tasks. Quarry/ Murk shifting,off roading & Congo'ing. Question is, how significant is the 50 horsepower difference??
Very negligible!
I have driven both in the most demanding of tasks. At low crawling speeds,you won't feel any discrepancies.
The Catch!
Now when you hit smooth roads & attain highway speeds
*MAJOR DIFFERENCE
Would be transitioning in between gears! The 400 HP engine would peak faster per gear set (engine rpm being torquey on the fly wheel, minimising momentum loss per gear) than the 350 HP!
In a nutshell
It would be a 100 metres Olympic race,determined by a Second when switching gears
Conclusion:
Horsepower is subjective. More isn't necessarily better but when push comes to shove, higher HP is the synthetic steroid, an insulin shot *Higher horsepower on a continuous stretch would save on fuel, but by a small margin as you constantly maintain a higher gear thanks to a sustained momentum between gears, smoother transitions!)
The opposite happens,when you can't max out on top gear eg traffic jams/ bogs. The 16 speed split of 8 gears is the reason why (versus Japanese hyped models) these double steers eat all for breakfast!
Shorter, trigger like gear shifts between synchronizers.
Mechanical Advantage 2.0
Lets wind it up on the sand harvesting business.
Malindi,the sand capital of Kenya But I always wonder how Malindi is bigger and more developed than Kilifi town. But Kilifi got to be the county HQ while Malindi settled for less while it has an airport and billionaires club. I think its supposed to be Malindi County not vice versa. You can imagine Kangemi is bigger than Kilifi town. Mtwapa is bigger than Kilifi.. Mtwapa even has a bypass these days
Anyway!
Why is there a difference in 6X4 double diff and 6×2 air ride? A 6×2 in moon walking(no traction) is on its own league! The even get stuck in the yard, not onli in mud but gravel and Cabros! The Sand-dunes in Malindi are many storeys high, it did collapse one day infront of my view. Luckily, the loaders sunk and secured air pockets. We dug them out in less than a minute!
The more delay, the closer to death they were.
The loaders are so experienced (8 of them can fill a double steer in 30 minutes) And trailer 40 tons (hoping Kenha are asleep) in less than an hour. With all the tribes of Kenya are well represented. If an excavator or loader is seen, or you bring a topic on Plant and Machinery is the same as stirring a fire-ants nest.
All that said, Problem numero Uno of a typical kenyan is inability to consume criticism while keeping emotions at bay. But I will serve my meals cold, to thick skulled hardcore prisoners serving 25 to life take itor leave it,its a choice!
MITSUBISHI FN627 CAN'T HANDLE this business.
*I have no reservation whatsoever with this,but Mitsubishi alternatively has offered other wrestlers for heavier /more arduous loads such as then Mitsu.Fuso 'infama' with Axor engine on semi-auto tranny. But who is a kenyan?!! A 0.5t rated car to carry 2t. A 2t canter converted into a tandem, prime mover to carry a whole ship!
The MNYAMA LOT from Zoo-Zoo premises:
As much as you might chest thump now, because mileage the core objective as investors air out everything to dry in the sun, we don't like the house damp n smelly
Into the meat and flesh, technically speaking
Japanese engines sub 300HP don't pack enough muscle and oomff to battle GVW of 50 tons. A direct attack on team Isuzu FVZ/GXZ are not meant for 50 tons either. Instead, ISUZU 3339 is there but it's casually ignored because you cant afford the 'liver', so you put the intestines on the pishori. Am a realist, not a Savage. Truth is my Surname
The classic Mercedes Benzes & old School MAN (also ERF)1924,2624, 2524 2528 are all sub 300 HP engines but can haul massive amounts of loads,they pull like a mule
Why?
*With arduous jobs it's not only about Engine Output Metrics like HP/Torque
-Frame rigidity
Like chassis tensile strength (carbon-steel Quotent)
Cross member interlinks,quality of bolts etc
More importantER
-A sturdy drive train
Esp the gearbox,propeller shaft and diff have to be very granite and stoic!..in the face of adversity
Benz had reduction hubs
The 911 diffs are still popular with sand harvesters and you find Isuzu Txs with Benz diffs, what do you think is the reason for this? Africa, is on the Tropics, higher temperatures and humidity only means the engines are ever struggling, even during winter. Now that which is struggling, you add some cart with with 20 ton payload..better to C or 1 Mombasa to Kigali
'no hurry'
....revs ever on the yellow / over rev red band..
Well..
Good morning Mr Crankshaft
How was your night?
What about you Mrs Cylinder, did you give HEAD?
In a nutshell, middleweight Japanese trucks cannot get into the ring with 50 GVW yokozunas and expect to get out alive after the 10th round
European Middleweights thou
Can fight to the death to get the payload delivered, without breaking a crankshaft or deep frying a diff when push comes to shove in the hills of Rwanda/Burundi. Every manufacturer has specs / limitations to engine performance and offers a myriad of options regarding the same
Ignore this at your own peril
Ignorance is bliss.
When the rings go kaput,and the gearbox reaches 5000 degrees thanks to "C" crawling from Cape to Cairo you will start giving a dog a bad name so that you can kill it 'this dog is a thief ' yet, in your home it's vegeterians galore, no meat ever on site for the dog.
Today, lets talk about long distance hauling, quarry businness and sand harvesting.
Lets start with long distance. Beginners,
Please please DO NOT start long distance logistics with these 3 trucks.
1. Renault Magnum
2. Iveco
3. Renault Premeum
They are very CHEAP & TEMPTING
(am not implying they are Bad trucks, just that it's best if it's your 2nd truck,not your 1st!)
DEAD on Arrival
Will be your new born in the Labour ward
*In transport
ENTRY LEVEL
Try as much as you can and get an Actros-Axor MP1/2 kr Scania 113,124 series With these, age is just a number. Very durable trucks! UD and DAF are also a good alternative
Sometime back around Kisauni KCB area there were some Renault Magnum units.
The amount of road rescue I did with my team of freelance mechanics only God knows. Assume a garage is a cow and the units are the ticks. Getting them out had to involve a specialist.
Iveco Stralis
Once it starts racking up the miles, cracks start to appear in your pockets. Big rift-valley like cracks!! Have you ever seen a large fleet operator in Kenya operating purely Iveco Stralis? No,not ME!
*Anything Italian is a Guzzler!
Iveco/Ferrari/Peugeot/....Martini Rosso
Renault Premium
Needs spares at hand! Remember Capital Cargo (circa 2002/3) around Migadini junction?
I was there with my team. Advised the owner to cut off Renaults doing Kampala routed from 12 to 6! Sell 6 Premiums, buy 2 Benzes. The owner of the fleet with Marketing degree, didn't listen to an Automotive Engineering Degree holder.
End result?
Renaults were hit by a Plague
[Common failure was compressor, then other opportunistic infections follow]
Blowing pressure pipes, then overheating and warping the head, more & more damages.
Then started the break downs on A109. A unit heads out to rescue switches trailer, after few kms breaks down too. At some point 7 out of 12 Renault's were all broken down spread along Msa-Malaba.
Remaining 4 in the Garage Only 1 left doing Tudor-Docks! Tudor docks is Msa-Nai. It's really Sad!
Cheap is Expensive!
Take my preachings with a grain of rice. Pesa ni yako, msosi kwa mazishi yako ni yetu!
Free-of-charge,tukitoa machozi fake ya kuongezea appetite.
On to the quarry and ballast business.
Pen & Paper
We address the elephant in the room!
1. Axor -3235. 350 horsepower
2. Axor 3240 400 horsepower
These units have the same engine, same gearbox different outputs!
[The 8×4 configuration is my poison of choice, solely because of a sturdy drivetrain meant to handle the most arduous of tasks. Quarry/ Murk shifting,off roading & Congo'ing. Question is, how significant is the 50 horsepower difference??
Very negligible!
I have driven both in the most demanding of tasks. At low crawling speeds,you won't feel any discrepancies.
The Catch!
Now when you hit smooth roads & attain highway speeds
*MAJOR DIFFERENCE
Would be transitioning in between gears! The 400 HP engine would peak faster per gear set (engine rpm being torquey on the fly wheel, minimising momentum loss per gear) than the 350 HP!
In a nutshell
It would be a 100 metres Olympic race,determined by a Second when switching gears
Conclusion:
Horsepower is subjective. More isn't necessarily better but when push comes to shove, higher HP is the synthetic steroid, an insulin shot *Higher horsepower on a continuous stretch would save on fuel, but by a small margin as you constantly maintain a higher gear thanks to a sustained momentum between gears, smoother transitions!)
The opposite happens,when you can't max out on top gear eg traffic jams/ bogs. The 16 speed split of 8 gears is the reason why (versus Japanese hyped models) these double steers eat all for breakfast!
Shorter, trigger like gear shifts between synchronizers.
Mechanical Advantage 2.0
Lets wind it up on the sand harvesting business.
Malindi,the sand capital of Kenya But I always wonder how Malindi is bigger and more developed than Kilifi town. But Kilifi got to be the county HQ while Malindi settled for less while it has an airport and billionaires club. I think its supposed to be Malindi County not vice versa. You can imagine Kangemi is bigger than Kilifi town. Mtwapa is bigger than Kilifi.. Mtwapa even has a bypass these days
Anyway!
Why is there a difference in 6X4 double diff and 6×2 air ride? A 6×2 in moon walking(no traction) is on its own league! The even get stuck in the yard, not onli in mud but gravel and Cabros! The Sand-dunes in Malindi are many storeys high, it did collapse one day infront of my view. Luckily, the loaders sunk and secured air pockets. We dug them out in less than a minute!
The more delay, the closer to death they were.
The loaders are so experienced (8 of them can fill a double steer in 30 minutes) And trailer 40 tons (hoping Kenha are asleep) in less than an hour. With all the tribes of Kenya are well represented. If an excavator or loader is seen, or you bring a topic on Plant and Machinery is the same as stirring a fire-ants nest.
All that said, Problem numero Uno of a typical kenyan is inability to consume criticism while keeping emotions at bay. But I will serve my meals cold, to thick skulled hardcore prisoners serving 25 to life take itor leave it,its a choice!
MITSUBISHI FN627 CAN'T HANDLE this business.
*I have no reservation whatsoever with this,but Mitsubishi alternatively has offered other wrestlers for heavier /more arduous loads such as then Mitsu.Fuso 'infama' with Axor engine on semi-auto tranny. But who is a kenyan?!! A 0.5t rated car to carry 2t. A 2t canter converted into a tandem, prime mover to carry a whole ship!
The MNYAMA LOT from Zoo-Zoo premises:
As much as you might chest thump now, because mileage the core objective as investors air out everything to dry in the sun, we don't like the house damp n smelly
Into the meat and flesh, technically speaking
Japanese engines sub 300HP don't pack enough muscle and oomff to battle GVW of 50 tons. A direct attack on team Isuzu FVZ/GXZ are not meant for 50 tons either. Instead, ISUZU 3339 is there but it's casually ignored because you cant afford the 'liver', so you put the intestines on the pishori. Am a realist, not a Savage. Truth is my Surname
The classic Mercedes Benzes & old School MAN (also ERF)1924,2624, 2524 2528 are all sub 300 HP engines but can haul massive amounts of loads,they pull like a mule
Why?
*With arduous jobs it's not only about Engine Output Metrics like HP/Torque
-Frame rigidity
Like chassis tensile strength (carbon-steel Quotent)
Cross member interlinks,quality of bolts etc
More importantER
-A sturdy drive train
Esp the gearbox,propeller shaft and diff have to be very granite and stoic!..in the face of adversity
Benz had reduction hubs
The 911 diffs are still popular with sand harvesters and you find Isuzu Txs with Benz diffs, what do you think is the reason for this? Africa, is on the Tropics, higher temperatures and humidity only means the engines are ever struggling, even during winter. Now that which is struggling, you add some cart with with 20 ton payload..better to C or 1 Mombasa to Kigali
'no hurry'
....revs ever on the yellow / over rev red band..
Well..
Good morning Mr Crankshaft
How was your night?
What about you Mrs Cylinder, did you give HEAD?
In a nutshell, middleweight Japanese trucks cannot get into the ring with 50 GVW yokozunas and expect to get out alive after the 10th round
European Middleweights thou
Can fight to the death to get the payload delivered, without breaking a crankshaft or deep frying a diff when push comes to shove in the hills of Rwanda/Burundi. Every manufacturer has specs / limitations to engine performance and offers a myriad of options regarding the same
Ignore this at your own peril
Ignorance is bliss.
When the rings go kaput,and the gearbox reaches 5000 degrees thanks to "C" crawling from Cape to Cairo you will start giving a dog a bad name so that you can kill it 'this dog is a thief ' yet, in your home it's vegeterians galore, no meat ever on site for the dog.
